The number of homes under construction rose during the month, as homebuilders continued to work through a large backlog of homes. 

The largest single-week decline in conventional mortgage rates since July brought the first increase in home-loan applications since September, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. 

The number of homes sold in October fell 16.6% from September to 4,805 properties, which was 31.8% lower than the 7,041 homes sold a year earlier, Georgia MLS reported.   

Looking ahead, CoreLogic expects national year-over-year appreciation to slow to 3.9% by September 2023. 

September is the fourth month in a row to see declining sales activity. 

A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 7.08% this week from 6.94% a week ago, Freddie Mac reported. A year ago, the average mortgage carried a 3.14% rate. 

Mortgage rates continued to weigh on homebuyers in September, following a brief uptick in new-home sales in August.  

At the same time, mortgage applications declined 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis on a week-over-week basis, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. 

In Atlanta, home prices posted a 20.1% year-over-year gain in August, compared to a 22.8% gain in July. Month over month, prices fell 0.4%.

Month over month in September, existing-home sales slid 1.5% to 4.71 million, which is 23.8% lower than the year before. 

New home construction missed analyst estimates in September, falling 8.1% month over month to an annual rate 1,439,000 homes, according to government statistics. 

The number of homes sold in September fell 9.8% from August to 5,680 properties, which was 21.9% lower than the 7,274 homes sold a year earlier. 

Looking ahead, CoreLogic expects the year-over-year pace of home-price appreciation to slow to 3.5% by August 2023. 

The average median home size varies drastically across the country, according to American Home Shield’s 2022 American Home Size Index.

The National Association of REALTORS® expects existing-home sales to close 2022 15.2% lower compared to 2021, thanks to economic uncertainty and rising mortgage rates. 

Sales of new homes in the U.S. jumped 28.8% between July and August, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.